


The Interview

by a_6yearold_inside



Series: New Friends Fallout [2]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, Gen, Lila salt, class salt, felinette - Freeform, ml class salt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-02
Updated: 2020-01-02
Packaged: 2021-02-22 16:03:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,405
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22085179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/a_6yearold_inside/pseuds/a_6yearold_inside
Summary: Marinette isn’t back after winter break and the class realizes they screwed up.
Relationships: Felix Culpa/Marinette Dupain Cheng | Ladybug, Felix Culpa/Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Felix/Marinette
Series: New Friends Fallout [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1589674
Comments: 10
Kudos: 1091





	The Interview

**Author's Note:**

> Y’all wanted a fallout chapter, so here you go.

“Hey, Lila! How was your holidays?”

“Oh, it was just lovely. I got to visit Prince Ali, and Jagged Stone even got me a copy of his newest album.”

“That’s great!” Alya winced a little, Lila always had such amazing stories; her gift of a new phone seemed tiny now.

“Anyway, where’s Marinette? I got her a gift to try and bridge the gap between us.”

“Sorry girl, but Mari hasn’t been in school for the past few days.”

“What?”

“Yeah, we think she got expelled.”

“It’s not because of those texts she sent me, right? I just couldn’t bear it if she got expelled because of that.”

Alya stared at Lila for a long time. “What texts?”

“Didn’t I tell you? Marinette sent some pretty mean texts to me when we first started the ignore her thing. I’m sure she didn’t mean it though.”

“Girl, she was cyber bullying you? For how long?”

“I’m not sure...”

“No wonder she left,” Alya scoffed, “I’m glad the school caught her.” 

“I’m just glad you don’t have to ignore her anymore; I can’t tell it was taking a toll on you.”

“Honestly? Not really. She’s always so good, so happy, I was kinda glad to take her down a few pegs.” She glanced down. “That sounds really bad now that I say it.”

“Not at all,” Lila crooned, “it’s healthy to let these emotions out. She was a bully anyway, so it’s completely okay now.”

“I’m just glad she’s gone. Now everything can go back to normal.”

“Guys!” Alix skidded in, waving her phone haphazardly. “Guess what? You know Aster Academy?”

“Yeah,” Adrien looked up, “my father thought about sending me there, but I chose to go here instead.”

“What a coincidence, me too! Jagged was practically begging me to go; it’s such a good place for people with so many connections like me, but I turned it down. I wanted to live a normal life.”

Alix didn’t engage Lila, lately she had been pretty upset with her need to be in the spotlight all the time. “They just accepted a new student!”

“What?” Alya rushed forwards, taking the phone from Alix’s hands. “They’ve  never done that before.”

“Well, they’re doing it now, a live interview is taking place in five minutes.”

It was at that moment that Ms. Bustier walked in. 

“Ms. Bustier! Can we watch the Aster Academy live stream?” The class clambered towards her, but she was already pulling it up on her computer.

“Welcome all to the formal interview of Aster Academy’s newest fashion student. I’m Bridgette, your interviewer for today, and this is Aster Antics, the official channel for Aster Academy.”

The camera panned out to show Bridgette sitting on a comfy chair across from another chair, that was empty.

“Gosh, I wish I could be in the Aster journalistic program.” Alya whispered to Lila.

“You know, I am personal friends with a lot of big name journalists in Paris, I could get you an internship sometime.”

“That be so nice of you, girl!”

“Now, what you’ve all been waiting for, the student herself, Marinette Dupain-Cheng!”

The class gasped, staring at the screen as Marinette strutted into the room, wearing a deep blue tank top.

“Now I know what you all are thinking, ‘gee, that name sounds familiar.’ Care to tell them why, Marinette?”

“Well,” she blushed, “it may be because I made Jagged Stone’s album cover, or his favorite glasses, or maybe when I won Gabriel Agreste’s hat contest, or when I came up with the idea for Clara Nightingale’s music video.”

“Are these all the connections you have?”

“It’s some of them...”

“Care to name any others?” 

She shrugged with a little smile. “I don’t really want to brag...”

“We will for you then!” A British accent came from behind the curtains and out jumped Jagged and Clara themselves.

“Our Mari has been to so many galas and events with us and at every one she just totally hits it off with someone.” 

“So we are introducing, from beginning to the end, all of Marinette’s famous friends!”

The class sat with gaping jaws as celebrity after celebrity stepped onto the stage, until the screen was filled with people.

“Hey, Mari-girl,” a man with greying hair and sunglasses spoke up, “when is your computer genius friend gonna contact me about that internship?”

“Did I forget to tell you?” Her eyes widened. “Max decided to pass.”

“And what about your blogger friend?” A woman in a pantsuit peered from over the man’s head. “She pass too?”

“Yeah, they just aren’t interested.”

“Anyway, if you could all leave,” Bridgette began shuttling the celebrities out of the room, “I can continue my interview.”

“So,” she settled back into her chair, “what made you come to Aster Academy?”

“Well, my old school... wasn’t fitting my needs anymore. My friends were choosing a liar over me and just generally ignoring me. I waited because I thought our friendship would outlast their anger, but I was wrong.

“My other friends, were kind enough to recognize my struggle and they actually worked with my parents to fill out the paperwork for my transfer. I’m lucky to have them.”

Bridgette preened, pressing a hand to her chest. “Yes, I really am amazing. So, what made you realize your old school had nothing left for you.”

“When they yelled at my other friends.” She looked down for a moment before continuing. “I realized that what we had now was toxic, and it may have been toxic before then.” She stared straight at the camera and a shiver went through the class. “They didn’t want to be my friends, but when I moved on, they tried to stop me; they decided they were entitled to my friendship but I didn’t deserve theirs.”

“That’s not true...” Alya heard Rose whisper, but wasn’t it? Didn’t they decide that she should vie for their friendship but they be above hers?

She looked back to the screen to see Marinette take a shuddering breath.

“Do you want to be done?” Bridgette leaned forwards, placing a hand on her shoulder. “Just say the word.”

“No, I’m fine. But let’s maybe do some less personal questions?”

“Sure thing.” Bridgette faced the camera. “We’ll be right back after a quick break.”

And with that, the screen showed a little white kitten frolicking in a field of purple.

Max rocked back and forth, curled in a ball.

“Dude, what’s wrong with you?” Kim poked him.

“That was one of the biggest names in computer science and I had an internship with him.” He didn’t look up from the spot on his pants. “And I turned it down.”

“And I turned down a internship with the most esteemed journalist in Paris.” Alya whispered.

“Don’t worry, guys!” Adrien looked at them all with a hopeful smile. “I’m sure Mari could get you your internships if you asked her.”

Alya was skeptical, but she opened the messages app on her phone and texted Marinette.

**You cannot send texts to a blocked number.**

Alya was about to unblock Marinette and text her apologies when the door opened and a horde of camera and microphone wielding adults came barreling into the room.

“Alya Césaire, is it true that not checking your sources is the cause of the Ladyblog’s downfall and the initial strian on your friendship with Miss Dupain-Cheng?”

A recorder was shoved in her face and she found herself the center of attention. 

“Of course not,” she bragged, “the Ladyblog is doing better than ever and as for Marinette...” she faltered. “That was something else.”

“Adrien Agreste, did your father really call Miss Dupain-Cheng ‘the daughter he wish he’d had?’”

“Not to my knowledge, no.”

“Caline Bustier, you saw a blatant example of exclusion and prejudice in your classroom and did nothing to stop it, why?”

“Marinette was always such a good example in class...” She trailed off. 

“Why are you here? Who are you?” Alya demanded. 

“I’m a blogger.”

“Tabloid writer!”

Alya listened as all of the strangers introduced themselves as the scum of the reporting world.

“Why aren’t you interviewing Marinette?” 

“We’re not allowed in, only the ‘good reporters’ get to interview her and her friends.”

_Her friends._

Alya glanced down at the contact of her blocked friend, then at the screen with the white kitten, then at the horde of tabloid writers filling the class.

They had royally screwed up.


End file.
